Nealy’s Catch Gives CSUN a 19-18 Victory

If Cal State Northridge Coach Bob Burt thought the old 90-Fade was a popular play before the final minute of Saturday night’s Western Football Conference game against Portland State, he should do a poll on the play now.

What Matador players called for, they got, with 47 seconds left and a crowd of 3,131 screaming as loud as a crowd of 3,131 can scream.

On the receiving end was wide receiver Billy Nealy. On the throwing end was quarterback Sherdrick Bonner. When the pass landed, cradled in Nealy’s arms in the corner of the end zone, everyone wearing black and red was on the celebrating end.

Nealy’s catch gave 18th-ranked Northridge a 19-18 upset of 11th-ranked Portland at North Campus Stadium and a leg up over everyone but Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the race for a WFC championship.

“We’re right where we want to be in controlling our own destiny,” Burt said. “It’s not going to be easy, but we’re on our way.”

The Northridge players were pointing their own way.

“The players were begging me,” Burt said of the winning play. “The kids called it. Thank God it was there.”

Pokey Allen, Portland’s coach, said it shouldn’t have worked.

“We’re in a bump and run (defense) on fourth-and-11 and there’e no way we should be doing that,” Allen said. “The corner (Nick Carter) should know better.”

Nealy’s catch not only defeated Portland, it also salvaged the night for Northridge tailback Albert Fann.

In the game in which he broke the Northridge career rushing record with 127 yards in 31 carries, Fann could have been the goat.

With the game tied, 13-13, midway through the third period, Fann took a kickoff two yards deep in the end zone, took one step out, then retreated into the end zone and knelt. When he got up, the referee was signaling safety and Portland led, 15-13.

Joe Rice, who was deep with Fann, tried to tell him to stay in the end zone right from the start, but Fann didn’t hear him.

“We just had bad communication . . . . and I didn’t know the rule,” Fann said.

Fifteen minutes of playing time later, with 5 minutes 21 seconds left in the game, Fann was again involved in a mistake that resulted in Portland points.

With the Matadors driving, Bonner tried to hook up with Fann on a pass inside the Portland 30. The ball and a Viking defender appeared to hit Fann at the same time with the ball bounding free. Domingue Hardeman of Portland has the presence of mind to pick it up while most everyone else watched and by the time he was pushed out of bounds, he had reached the Northridge 18.

Burt was livid that the play was called a fumble and he ran 10 yards onto the field to let the officiating crew know how he felt.

Fann was less excited. Stunned was more like it.

“The ball hit my shoulder pad and I tried to trap it there, but as soon as it hit me a (Portland) guy hit me at the same time,” Fann said. “I never had the ball.”

Fann hadn’t fumbled all season until Saturday, but he was credited with two against Portland. The first set up a second-quarter touchdown.

The second turnover, Hardeman’s runback, and a 28-yard field goal by J.J. Brumfield with 3:26 left in the game, resulted in a 18-12 Portland lead

After a 26-yard return by Fann, Northridge took over at its own 36 with 3:20 left. Fann gained three yards on the first play, then Bonner hit Adam McKinney with an 18-yard pass for a first down. Fullback Jason Ferguson gained five yards, then Bonner scrambled for six yards and another first down.

Fann gained eight yards, moving the ball to the 24. On the next play, Bonner found Nealy over the middle at the five, but Nealy dropped the ball. On third-and-two, Bonner hooked up with Anthony Harris for 13 yards and a first down at the 11 with a minute left.

Instead of continuing the drive, Northridge chose to throw four consecutive passes into the end zone. The final one stuck.

Portland, which has won the past three WFC titles, dropped to 1-2 in conference games, 4-2 overall. Northridge, playing its conference opener, has won four in a row since losing to Northern Arizona, 37-3, in its season opener.

Portland had defeated Northridge three times in a row on its way to three consecutive WFC championships. But now the Vikings are reeling, having lost in its conference opener, 36-23, to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.